Father Moses
YouTube
The Devil's Strategy: Cutting You Off From Your Supply Lines
13:42
What the video says
A priest explains that in spiritual warfare the devil tries to cut us off from four sources of support: the Church, our priest and confession, prayer and fasting, and forgiveness. He shares stories illustrating how the devil uses excuses, shame, and resentment to weaken us, and urges believers to stay faithful day by day like good soldiers. The video ends with an invitation to join an online brotherhood community for support in the spiritual struggle.
Key moments
- The devil doesn't only attack with temptations; if that fails, he tries to cut you off from your sources of support.
- First target: the Church. The devil uses illness, headaches, schedule changes, oversleeping, and any obstacle to keep you from attending, because the Church is where God's soldiers are renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
- Second target: your priest and confession. The devil plants negative thoughts and judgments about the priest—calling him harsh, distant, or uncaring—to drive a wedge between you and your spiritual leader.
- The priest recounts how his confessor advised him to respond to complaints about another priest by offering to arrange a three-way meeting; no one ever accepted, showing people prefer complaining to resolving.
- People avoid confession out of shame, saying they'll return only when they've improved, not realizing that humility and shame are actually good, since pride is the root of sin. A young man's rule of calling his priest after falling into sin helped him stop the sin entirely.
- Third target: prayer and fasting. Skipping the prayer rule makes the day more anxious and difficult; prayer is the water of the soul that keeps a soldier in the fight.
- The devil whispers 'How can you live without meat?'—never 'How can you live without the Kingdom of Heaven?' We should simply focus on today's task, for each day has enough trouble of its own.
- Fourth target: forgiveness. Christ said that if we do not forgive others from our hearts, the Father will not forgive us; harboring resentment suffocates the Holy Spirit like a dusty, filthy house God cannot enter—while forgiveness, prayer, and fasting clean the soul for Him to dwell in.
A priest, Father Moses, presents spiritual warfare through a military metaphor: just as armies win by cutting the enemy off from supply lines, the devil fights believers not only through direct temptation but by severing them from the sources that sustain their spiritual life. He identifies four such 'supply lines' and explains how each is undermined.
The first is the Church itself: the devil uses headaches, oversleeping, illness, and schedule disruptions—especially on Sundays—to keep people away from the place where they are renewed by the Holy Spirit. The second is one's priest and the sacrament of confession. The devil plants critical thoughts about the priest ('he is harsh, distant, uncaring') to drive a wedge between penitent and confessor.
The priest shares how his own confessor handled complaints by offering a three-way meeting with the priest in question—no one ever accepted, revealing that people often prefer complaining to reconciliation. He also addresses shame about confession: waiting until one has 'improved' misunderstands the sacrament, since humility is valuable and pride is the root of sin; one young man's practice of calling his priest after every fall helped him stop the sin entirely.
The third target is prayer and fasting: skipping the prayer rule makes the day more anxious, and the devil whispers 'how can you live without meat?' but never 'how can you live without the Kingdom of Heaven?' Believers are urged to focus only on today's struggle. The fourth is forgiveness: Christ warned that the Father will not forgive those who do not forgive others from the heart; resentment suffocates the Holy Spirit like a filthy house God cannot enter, while forgiveness, prayer, and fasting cleanse the soul as a dwelling for Him.
The talk closes with an encouragement to persevere daily like good soldiers, and an invitation to join an online brotherhood for mutual support in the struggle.
Main points
- The devil attacks not only with temptation but by cutting believers off from their four sources of spiritual strength.
- First target: the Church—illness, oversleeping, and Sunday headaches are used to keep people from grace.
- Second: one's priest and confession—negative thoughts about the priest and shame over sin drive people away; humility, not self-improvement first, is the path back.
- Third: prayer and fasting—skipping the prayer rule makes the day harder; the devil questions fasting, never our need for the Kingdom.
- Fourth: forgiveness—unforgiven resentment blocks the Holy Spirit, while forgiveness cleanses the soul as God's dwelling.